January 2011

Fri 28th January 2011 (2 comments)

Tasmanian Tigers

More than 1,000km south of Sydney, Australia, lies the island of Tasmania, a unique land of mountains, rivers, undiscovered valleys and mysterious forests. It is an island that has been separated from the rest of the world by the ocean surrounding it, for millions of years.

Although there are many animals found here that are also found on mainland Australia, Tasmania is an island that has a number of species found nowhere else on Earth. Sadly however, at least 60 years ago Tasmania's most dominant predator, the Tasmanian Tiger, was thought to have become extinct.

Tue 25th January 2011 (0 comments)

Mount Everest

The Himalayas are the tallest mountain range on Earth, towering more than 8,000 metres above sea level at their highest points. They are the most inhospitable mountains in the world and stretch for 2,000 miles across Asia through India, Nepal, Tibet and Bhutan affecting the lives of billions of people throughout the continent.

The Himalayan mountain range is home to the world's highest peaks including Mount Everest and K2. Situated in the Mahalangur Himal, a subrange of the Himalayas on the border of Nepal and Tibet, the world's highest mountain, Mount Everest, stands at 8,848 meters above sea level. K2 is the second highest at 8,611 meters and is found close to the border of Pakistan.

Fri 21st January 2011 (0 comments)

The White Rhinoceros

In the late 19th century, Africa's white rhino had been hunted almost to extinction with only around 100 individuals thought to be left in the wild. Extensive conservation efforts to save the rhinos has led to a rise in populations of over 20,000 today. The white rhino is considered endangered and the black rhino, critically endangered.

However, decades of hard work could be very quickly undone as there has recently been a large rise in the number of rhinos illegally poached across the continent. South Africa, which is home to the largest population of rhinos (both white and black) in the world, has been targeted most heavily of all.

Tue 18th January 2011 (0 comments)

The Fertility Of The Nile

The world's rivers are not only vital for the basic function of our planet, but they have also proved crucial to human civilisations everywhere. The longest, and inarguably one of the most famous, is the River Nile that flows through northern Africa, and is well known for it's incredibly fertile sediment that is excellent for farming.

The exact source of the Nile has been the subject of debate for years but many now agree that it's earliest source can be found in southern Rwanda. This part of the river, known as the White Nile, then flows through Tanzania, Lake Victoria, Uganda and Sudan where it joins with the smaller tributary flowing east, known as the Blue Nile, and the two continue flowing north together.

Thu 13th January 2011 (2 comments)

Glowing Under UV Light

There are many amazing phenomenons that occur throughout the animal kingdom, rare behaviours that specific animals have evolved in order to better adapt to their surrounding environment. One of the weirdest however, is the fact that scorpions actually glow in the dark. An odd thing to do when it is trying to hide from hungry predators.

There are numerous species of scorpion around the world, all of which are nocturnal hunters. It is thought that in order to detect how bright the moonlight is outside, a pigment found in the scorpion's skin, transforms it's body into a blue/green glow. For them, coming out into bright night-time conditions, would make the scorpion more vulnerable to predators.

Mon 10th January 2011 (0 comments)

Great Barrier Reef

In the early days of December 2010, extreme weather conditions caused by a tropical cyclone, led to the start of isolated flooding in parts of the state of Queensland in north-east Australia. The flooding forced the evacuation of around 1,000 people, but by the end of the month, the situation had drastically changed with more than 200,000 people thought to have been affected.

On Christmas Eve, monsoonal conditions hit the southern and central areas of the state, causing the severe flooding and evacuation of an area the size of France and Germany combined. It is thought that more than 20 towns have been severely affected, with some being up to 80% underwater. Nearly 300 roads were also closed and both of Queensland's mining and food industries have also been hit by the floods.

Thu 6th January 2011 (1 comment)

Deep Jungle

Deep in the heart of the Indonesian archipelago, sits one of the largest and most diverse tropical islands on the planet. Borneo is the third largest island in the world behind Greenland and Papua New Guinea, and it's nearly 750,000 square kilometres of land is covered with some of the richest and most diverse habitats found on Earth.

Although well-known for it's immense and greatly undiscovered jungles, Borneo is also home to some of the most unique eco-systems on the planet, both on land and in the surrounding water, from natural swamps and caves to some of the most complex and developed coral reefs in the ocean. Species thrive on and around this magical island and many of the numerous organisms found here are found no-where else on the planet.

Tue 4th January 2011 (0 comments)

Blue Whale

In this incredibly diverse world, we share our environments with a complete variety of species of all shapes, sizes and colour. Some species however, simply seem to grow to be much, much bigger than others throughout a variety of habitats. Here are the planet's giants: